


Christmas Cheer

by AshJuillet



Series: Christmas Fics [11]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Background Relationships, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28110108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshJuillet/pseuds/AshJuillet
Summary: Lucius has to host Draco's girlfriend for Christmas, but he's an amateur at decorating. Hermione decides to help out. AU!
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Lucius Malfoy
Series: Christmas Fics [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038066
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Christmas Cheer

**Author's Note:**

> Pairing: Lucius/Hermione  
> Prompt: Christmas amateur hires Person B to bring joy to their house.

Ever since Narcissa had died at the hands of Voldemort during the Final Battle, Lucius had felt lost in the world. The Ministry of Magic had placed him on house arrest, and his magic had been dampened with an ankle cuff; he had no way of removing the cuff and was forced to live like a Muggle in his own Manor. He had moved on from his wife’s death, yes, but there were still certain things he had no idea how to manage without his wife by his side. Especially now that he couldn’t do any magic.

When Draco informed him that he was inviting his new girlfriend over to the manor on Christmas, Lucius refused to host the witch in his house. He knew who the witch was, and he was not interested in playing ‘pretend’ with her. But Draco said that he wanted him to make a good impression on her, or else he would leave the family business. Lucius was stunned by his son’s impertinence, but he had no choice but to agree.

After Draco left the manor, Lucius found himself stuck in a conundrum. He didn’t have any house-elves working for him anymore, and neither was Narcissa alive; therefore, he would have to decorate the house himself to make an impression on Draco’s girlfriend. The only problem was that Lucius had never decorated his house for Christmas before; Narcissa had always been in charge of hosting dinner parties and balls, and Lucius’ job had been to show up and charm their guests.

For a moment, he thought of not decorating the house, but then, he remembered the look on Draco’s face when he had refused to host his witch for dinner. Lucius may have been many things, but he did love his son in his own way. Therefore, he thought of hiring someone to decorate his house  _ for _ him. But where to look?

* * *

Lucius opened the door and found Hermione Granger standing on his doorstep. He stiffened when she gave him a polite smile and smoothed down her black skirt. “Good afternoon, Mr Malfoy. Draco explained to me that you required my services.”

_ Services?  _ Lucius looked her up and down, wondering why she was offering herself to him. He had to admit that she looked good in her plain white button-down shirt and black skirt. He cleared his throat and asked, “How much do you charge for one night?”

Her eyes widened with disbelief, and she let out an indignant shriek. “Mr Malfoy! How dare you assume I’m an  _ escort _ ?”

“You said I required your services, Miss Granger.”

“I meant my decorating services! I’m exceptional at decorating people’s houses, Mr Malfoy! Draco said you might require my services this year,” she said in a high-pitched tone, and Lucius almost groaned.

He did want someone to decorate his house for him, but there was no way he was going to allow Hermione Granger into his house for that job. “No. I don’t require  _ your _ services. You may leave now.”

He was about to shut the door in her face when she stepped forward and said, “I’ll come straight to the point, Mr Malfoy.  _ I’m _ trying to build a portfolio for my decorating services, and  _ you _ need someone to decorate your house as soon as possible. You won’t find anyone else to decorate your manor as Christmas is right around the corner. So, hire me. It’s a win-win for both of us.”

Lucius gritted his teeth, but he knew she was right. There was no one else he could hire on such short notice, and so, he let out a sigh of defeat and said, “Very well, Miss Granger. You may begin your work as soon as possible. Owl me your salary later.”

“Great!” Hermione beamed up at him and extended her hand out for him to shake. “We have a deal!”

Lucius cautiously shook her hand, surprised to find their hands fit so well together.  _ Oh, this is ironic. _

* * *

“Now that we have the tree, we’re going to start decorating it,” Hermione stated, stepping towards the large box of ornaments, fairy lights, and garlands she had bought from the local store. “Do you want to help me, Mr Malfoy?”

Lucius bit his tongue to stop himself from reminding her that he had  _ hired  _ her to do all that menial work. “No, thank you, Miss Granger.”

Hermione shrugged and said, “Okay, suit yourself.” She picked up a string of fairy lights and began to slowly wrap them around the base of the tree, carefully unravelling it as she wound it around the upper branches of the tree. She started to hum a song Lucius hadn’t heard before, and he wondered why it sounded so nice.

After she was done wrapping the fairy lights around the tree, she turned to Lucius and said, “I really should have asked you this before — but would the fairy lights even work here? These are Muggle lights, so…”

Lucius clenched his jaw but said, “One of the Ministry officials explained to me how to use electricity. I don’t like these…  _ lights _ , but I’ll allow them in my house for once.”

Hermione smiled at his hesitant acceptance of Muggle inventions and turned back to the tree. “Could you hand me the silver ribbons, please?”

Lucius wanted to snap at her again, but he barely held himself back. He rifled through the large box and pulled out a long silver ribbon, staring with disbelief at the green snakes drawn on it. “Snakes, Miss Granger? How very… Slytherin.”

She threw her head back and laughed as she smoothed down the branches. “You’re right! I saw the ribbon and immediately thought of you! So, I bought it.”

Lucius stared at the back of her head, surprised that she had thought of him. He didn’t say anything as he walked over to hand the ribbon to her. He watched as she placed a small stool near the tree and climbed on it. He didn’t know why he stood so close to her, but for some reason, he did, and his presence distracted Hermione from her work.

She tripped over the ribbon and grabbed onto his shoulder to steady herself, and Lucius instantly wrapped his arms around her waist, stiffening at their proximity.  _ WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU DIMWIT? THIS IS HERMIONE GRANGER!  _ He managed to let go of her, silently cursing his hands for holding onto her waist for longer than necessary.

“Sorry, Mr Malfoy,” she said, quickly turning away to hide her red face behind her hair. She began to layer the tree with the ribbon, making sure to hide the large patches of open area. “Could you hand me the garland? It’s the one with red and gold tinsel in it.”

“Gryffindor colours,” Lucius grumbled under his breath but did as she had asked him to.  _ I should just walk away and leave her to her work. I’m not paying her to demand things from me.  _ But even though he tried to leave her in the living room on her own, he just couldn’t move.

“I heard that,” she called out over her shoulder, a small grin on her face. “But red’s also closely associated with Christmas.”

“At least you added the snake ribbon,” he said nonchalantly. “I don’t think I could bear to see only Gryffindor colours in my house.”

Hermione giggled and stepped off the stool carefully, and Lucius automatically took a small step closer to her. “Oh, then, you’re going to love the ornaments I bought for you.”

He watched her look through the box for something, still humming under her breath. There was just something about her presence in his ancestral home that caused his stomach to somersault and his heart to hammer against his ribs. And he had a terrible feeling it wasn’t because she was a Muggleborn. He suddenly wanted her out of his house as soon as possible. “How long will this decorating business take? And why aren’t you using magic like a normal human being? Aren’t you a witch, Miss Granger?”

Hermione sighed and nodded. “Yes, I am a witch, Mr Malfoy, but I prefer decorating the Muggle way. It’s much more effective. You’ll see — if you help me.”

“Will you leave after decorating the tree?”

Hermione rolled her eyes but nodded. “Yes, but I have to warn you that I’ll be back in a few hours. I still need to decorate your dining room — or would you prefer to eat somewhere else?”

“We’ll be eating in the dining room, thank you very much,” he said calmly, refusing to think about the drawing-room where the witch in front of him had been tortured by his ex-sister-in-law. The memory still haunted him; Lucius did think of purebloods superior, but that didn’t mean he had liked watching Bellatrix torture a  _ child  _ in his house. Because that was she had been. A mere child — just like Draco.

“Very well. Why don’t you place the tree skirt under the tree?” Hermione asked, pulling out a white velvet cloth and handing it to him. “Make sure the tree stand is covered properly.”

Lucius sighed in defeat and couched next to the tree. After he had finished covering the stand with the velvet cloth, he looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see a small smile playing on her lips. “What are you looking at, Miss Granger?”

She blinked and quickly looked away. “Nothing,” she muttered, her cheeks reddening at being caught staring by the older man. “Okay, now, we’ll hang the ornaments on the branches. Tell me which ones you like.”

“I don’t care about the asinine ornaments,” he said bluntly, and Hermione’s shoulders slumped at his tone. “You can hang a house-elf there for all I care.”

Hermione nibbled on her lower lip before nodding silently. To Lucius’ bewilderment, she pulled out her wand and began to Levitate the ornaments towards the tree. Without a word, she hung the larger ornaments on the lower branches and the smaller decorations on top. 

“What are you doing?” Lucius demanded, annoyed by her silence. The air around her crackled, startling Lucius with how tense it was.

“Decorating. I’ll be out of your hair soon.” She continued to work on decorating the tree with magic, not looking at him. In a few minutes, she had hung all the decorations on the tree. 

Still not looking at him, she Levitated the golden star towards the tree, and Lucius stepped right behind her, breaking her concentration. The star fell to the floor and shattered into innumerable pieces. Her brown eyes shimmered with tears as she repaired the star wordlessly and Levitated it to the top. Once the star was in its proper place, she whirled around and said in a raspy tone, “ _ There _ . Your tree is done. I’ll leave now.”

Before he could stop her, she stormed through the door and Disapparated with a loud crack. Lucius couldn’t do anything but stare at the door, guilt blooming in his chest. It was an unusual sensation for him, and it caused his hands to begin sweating.  _ What have I done? _

When Draco arrived home from work, he found Lucius staring at the door with a befuddled expression, and he asked, “Is everything all right, Father?”

Draco’s voice penetrated his muddled mind, and Lucius blinked, startled at his son’s appearance. “When did you get home?”

“Just now… You seem troubled. What seems to be the problem?”

Lucius didn’t want to talk about it, but the sight of the golden star twinkling on top of the Christmas tree caused his gut to clench. “Your…  _ friend _ was here.”

“Granger? Huh. Never thought you’d call her my friend, but whatever. Go on,” Draco said, dusting the Floo powder off his black robes and sitting down opposite Lucius. “What did she do now?”

“She decorated the tree and left,” Lucius said calmly, staring at the star.

“Oh. You didn’t expect her to decorate the manor in a few hours now, did you?”

“No, that’s not it. I think… I offended her with something I said, but I cannot comprehend what it was.” The star reminded him of the tears that had pooled in the witch’s eyes, and the feeling of guilt continued to increase.

“What did you say?”

“She asked me to choose which ornaments I wanted to hang on the tree, and I said… I said that I didn’t care…” he trailed off, wondering if the witch was simply overly emotional, but the explanation didn’t seem plausible.

“Did she hex you or punch you?”

“She didn’t do anything,” Lucius said carefully, confused as to why he was telling his son. “She stopped talking to me, and then, she stormed out of here... in tears.”

“Tears? That doesn’t sound like Granger. I admit she gets emotional over the smallest things, but she’s thick-skinned when she gets insulted… You must have said something else. What was it?” Draco looked at him pointedly, leaning forward.

Lucius hesitated but said, “I told her that… she could hang a house-elf on the tree for all I cared.”

“House-elves! Oh, Merlin, Father! You know she hates talking about house-elves in such a manner! Remember she started that spew nonsense back in our fourth year?”

“Yes, but I—”

“Granger can tolerate anything, but she won’t stand for house-elf cruelty,” Draco stated calmly, leaning back in his chair.

“It’s not like I killed a house-elf in front of her!” Lucius cried defensively, and Draco snorted.

“If she heard that, she’s sure to hex you — or punch you as you can’t protect yourself with magic,” Draco said with a smirk, reminiscing about the time Hermione had punched him. “You need to make it up to her — or else, she’s not going to continue decorating the manor for you for free.”

“She’s not doing this for free,” Lucius retorted, confused. “I said I would pay her for it.”

“It’s for Christmas, Father,” Draco said with a shake of his head. “It’s the time of the year when Granger is at her most…  _ Granger-ness _ .”

“That’s not a word… Is this why she hasn’t Owled me her rates?”

“If you don’t find a way to make it up to her, she’s not going to Owl you  _ anything _ . Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got somewhere else to be.” Lucius watched Draco leave and rolled his eyes; it was a mundane gesture that no Malfoy would ever be caught doing, but as he was all alone, he allowed himself to do it.

He sat staring at the star and wondering how to make it up to the witch who’d been kind enough to help him, and then, an idea hit him like a Bludger. He hurried over to the tree and began to remove the ornaments, garlands, ribbons and fairy lights from it. Once he had pulled the star off the top, he took a deep breath in and went to find his owl, Archimedes.

* * *

Lucius desperately hoped his plan would work as he paced impatiently in the living room. His ears perked up when he heard a soft crack outside, and he crossed his fingers and prayed that it was Granger. When the knock on the door sounded, Lucius let out a sigh of relief and hurried over to open it, trying not to look too hopeful.

Hermione stood on the other side of the door with another cardboard box in her arms. She didn’t meet his eyes as she silently walked in, and it was like a punch to Lucius’ gut. Still, he remained silent as he followed her into the living room.

“What happened to the tree?” Hermione blurted out when she realized the decorations were all gone.

“I was thinking maybe we could decorate the tree again,” Lucius said carefully, and Hermione stiffened.

“Why? Was my work not good enough for you, Mr Malfoy?”

“No, it’s not that your work wasn’t good — I have decided that I want you to teach me how to decorate the tree. I don’t want you to do the work on your own.” Lucius waited hopefully, wondering if she would realize his true intentions.

She stared at him for a few moments before frowning. “Why? What are you up to, Mr Malfoy?”

“Please, call me Lucius — and I’m not  _ up to anything.  _ I just want to decorate the tree with you.”

Hermione looked suspicious, but she finally conceded. “Very well, we’ll have to start with the fairy lights again.”

Lucius nodded and searched the box for the fairy lights. He pulled them out and walked towards the tree. “Should I wrap it around the tree, or is there an art to this?”

Hermione shook her head and replied, “It’s not an art, but you should start from the bottom of the tree and move towards the top.”

He carefully strung the lights on the tree and stepped closer to her. “Is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine,” she said, a bit flustered at his proximity. She cleared her throat and handed him the silver ribbon. She watched him place the ribbon awkwardly on the branches and stepped forward to help him. “Here, let me help you,” she said, tugging the ribbon down to create a more elaborate pattern.

Lucius hummed appreciatively and said, “That is better. Where do the garlands go?”

Loosening up, she started to explain how to entwine the garlands with the branches, and Lucius asked her questions to keep her talking. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she had a nice voice. When it was time for them to put up the ornaments, he cleared his throat and said, “Miss Granger…”

“Hermione... You can call me Hermione,” she said, offering him a shy smile.

Lucius let her name roll off his tongue slowly. “ _ Hermione _ …” It sounded sinful to the witch, and her cheeks reddened. He cleared his throat, sensing the sudden tension in the air, and said, “I want to apologize for earlier today. I understand I hurt your sentiments by being offensive about house-elves, and I wish to apologize.”

Hermione’s eyes widened at his words, and she shook her head. “I didn’t think you would want to hang a house-elf on the tree, Lucius! That’s not the reason I was… hurt.”

“It’s not?” Lucius was relieved for a second before he realized she said she was hurt by something else. “May I inquire as to what I said wrong?”

She sighed audibly. “I was just trying to show you that despite not being able to do magic, you could still have fun on Christmas… Decorating your house was my first step to bring some Christmas cheer in your life.”

“Is it true you’re not charging me for this?” Lucius suddenly asked, wanting to confirm what Draco had said to him.

She looked at the tree and nodded, her shoulders slumping. “Yes, it’s true. It’s Christmas, Lucius… It’s a time when people get together and enjoy each other’s company. All you wanted me to do was decorate the house, but decorating is not what Christmas is really about. It’s about the memories you create with your loved ones, the joy of spreading happiness to those who have fewer material possessions than you, being kind and generous. Draco wants you to meet Ginny because he loves her and he wants you to see that. He doesn’t want you to decorate the house for  _ her —  _ if your intention is only to impress her, then you can just stop.”

Her eyes were full of passion, and Lucius couldn’t help but gaze at her with awe. He had heard from his son how brilliant she was — though Draco had  _ complained _ about her in his school years — and how passionate she was about the things she loved. But he hadn’t realized she would be so ardent and vivacious about showing him something she believed in. He cleared his throat and said, “I misjudged your intentions, and I... apologize. This is only a one-time thing, so don’t expect me to form morals all of a sudden, but… would you show me how to celebrate Christmas  _ your  _ way?”

“My way? Do you mean it? You really want to spend Christmas the Muggle way?” she whispered. The hopeful look on her face only cemented Lucius’ decision.

“Keep in mind that I’m only doing this because it’s  _ Christmas _ ,” he warned her, and she beamed up at him, her eyes alight.

“Oh, I’m going to teach you so much, Lucius! Just you wait! We’ll bake cookies and bring them to the orphanages, and I’ll show you how to make snow angels! Ooh, we could buy presents for the children too!” Lucius listened to her ramble on and on, and he couldn’t stop his lips from turning up into a smile. She was so excited about her new project, and he decided to simply go along with it. Maybe, she would teach him something new.

**Author's Note:**

> Please read and review. Thanks!


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